Just another in a series of lawsuits and complaints by anti-Christian forces working to strip the military of evangelical Christian influence
-- From "Group suing military seeks top chaplain's ouster" by The Associated Press 4/10/09
A group with a federal lawsuit in Kansas alleging widespread religious discrimination within the military called April 8 for the Army to court-martial its chief of chaplains.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation sought Maj. Gen. Douglas Carver’s ouster on the day Carver designated for prayer and fasting for chaplains. It also was the start of Passover, observed with a ritual meal, or Seder, by Jews.
Foundation President Mikey Weinstein said his Albuquerque, N.M.-based group has received numerous complaints about Carver’s proclamation in March calling for fasting and prayer on April 8.
The proclamation called for chaplains to act “in keeping with your religious traditions.” Carver later issued an addendum saying participation was voluntary and that he consulted with two senior Jewish chaplains.
The foundation and a former Fort Riley, Kan., soldier filed suit last year in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., against Defense Secretary Robert Gates, alleging a pervasive bias within the military toward evangelical Christianity. The lawsuit also alleges the military allows personnel to try to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan to Christianity.
“It’s a fundamentalist Christian-Constitution fight,” Weinstein said in an interview. “This represents a perfect, quintessential example of the fact that our United States military has become infused, essentially, with the Christian mirror image of the type of Islam that is pushed by al-Qaida and the Taliban.”
“This is absolutely about proselytizing in Iraq and everywhere else,” Weinstein said. “We’re not at war with Islam? It sure looks like we are.”
To read the entire, above article, CLICK HERE.
From "Top Army chaplain upsets Jews by calling for fasting during Passover" Associated Baptist Press 4/7/09 by Bob Allen
Maj. Gen. Douglas Carver, a Southern Baptist, issued a proclamation March 2 urging Army chaplains to pray and fast April 8 during a 120-day "stand down" period beginning Feb. 15 to focus on suicide-prevention awareness among soldiers.
"As spiritual leaders we are called to be a people of prayer," Carver explained in an Internet newsletter article. "One initiative that was proposed is that we employ the power of collective prayer more consistently in our efforts to combat suicide. I have issued a call to all members of our Corps to join with me on 8 April in leading the Army Family in a special day of prayer and fasting for the preservation, protection and peace of our Army.. I have directed our Center for Spiritual Leadership at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School to provide resources to support you in your prayer effort."
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation said the directive, which includes a resolution-style "whereas" statement saying spiritual leaders "model faith and belief in the Hand of God to intervene in the course of history and individual lives," is "not an appropriately pluralistic description of the theological and spiritual diversity present within military chaplaincy."
The group, founded by Air Force Academy graduate Mikey Weinstein to advocate the separation of church and state in the military, also said the Army chief of chaplains is a bureaucratic job with no constitutional authority to dictate a specific religious practice like fasting or prayer.
To read the entire, above article, CLICK HERE.
